Hoppers



United States Patent [72] Inventor Donald Eric Blnclunore London, England [21] Appl. No. 766,594 [22] Filed Oct. 10,1968 [45] Patented Dec. 8, 1970 [73] Assignee Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company,

Limited London, England [32] Priority Oct. 16, 1967 [33] Great Britain [31 No. 46,989/67 [54] HOPPERS 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] [1.8. CI. 222/556 [51] Int. Cl B65d47/08 [50] Field of Search 222/547, 556; 239/345; 251/300, 301, 147; l98/39, 53; 302/ (inquired) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,293,476 8/1942 Snellingr 222/547UX 2,883,147 4/1959 Mirza etaL. 251/301UX 2,949,275 8/1960 Pro 251/301UX VALLEY ANGLE Assistant Examiner-Norman L. Stack, Jr. Alt0mey- Larson and Taylor ABSTRACT: A hopper tapers in the direction of its height to an inverted apex at the bottom of the hopper. Adjacent the apex in a sidewall of the hopper is an aperture closable by a valve element mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis inito and out of its position in which it closes the aperture, the valve element having a surface facing internally of the hopper which surface is part cylindrical in shape and is centered about the horizontal axis, the axis lying outside the hopper. The interior surface of said sidewall oi the hopper extends upwardly from the aperture substantially tangentially of the part cylindrical surface in smooth continuation of that part-cylindrical surface, whereby the valley or flow angle of material in the hopper is not increased as the valve element moves in the aperture closing direction. Preferably the opposed sidewall provides a seat for the valve element in its fully closed position, and the interior surface of the further sidewall meets the part-cylindrical surface of the element when in its closed position, substantially tangentially.

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PATENTED DEC 8 19m SHEET 1 OF 2 ,VALLEV ANGLE Fig. I.

PATENTEU DEC 8 I976 SHEET 2 OF 2 HOPPERS This invention relates to hoppers and, more particularly, to hoppers having means for discharging material from the hoppers.

The present invention provides a hopper tapering in the direction of its height to an inverted apex at the bottom of the hopper, adjacent which apex in a sidewall of the hopper there is an aperture closable by a valve element of which, in the position of the valve element in which it closes the aperture, the surface facing the interior of the hopper provides a smooth continuation of the wall of the hopper.

The hopper may have an upper body portion to which is attached a lower valve portion embodying said aperture and carrying said valve element.

The valve element may be mounted for rotation into and out of its position in which it closes the aperture and may be so movable about a horizontal axis.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 shows a vertical cross-sectional view through the lower part of the hopper,

FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the lower valve portion, and

FIG. 3 shows a part cross-sectional view on the line A-A of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the hopper comprises an upper body portion 1 to which is attached by means of bolts (not shown) passing through cooperating flanges 2 a lower valve portion 3. The upper body portion is of conical shape having a valley angle as shown and the lower valve portion has at its upper end a circular orifice 4 (see FIG. 2) which alines with a similar aperture 5 at the lower end of the upper body portion 1 so that the internal walls 6 of the lower valve portion 3 constitute substantially a continuation of the internal wall 7 of the upper body portion although the internal wall of the valve portion 3 tapers to the inverted apex 8 of the hopper, which apex is substantially linear as can be seen in FIG. 2.

In the sidewall 6 of the lower valve portion 3 of the hopper is a rectangular aperture 9 closable by a valve element 10 which in its closed position seats on a valve seat 11 surrounding the aperture 9. The valve element is of part-cylindrical form and the surface 12 thereof facing the interior of the hopper provides a continuation of the walls 5 and 6 of the hopper.

The valve element 10 is carried by an arcuate bracket 13 on a shaft 14 rotatable on ball bearings 15 about an axis 16, by a handle 17.

With the valve element 10 in the position shown in FIG. 1 in which it closes the aperture 9, any material in the hopper is retained therein but upon rotation of the handle 17, the valve element 10 will be rotated to open the aperture 9 and, thereby, allow material in the hopper to fall under gravity out of the aperture 9.

By the placing of the aperture 9 in the sidewall of the hopper and by the use of a valve element 10 of which the inten'or face 12 is in substantial continuation of the wall 6, the valley angle of material in the hopper is not altered as between the closed and open position of the valve element 10.

Iclaim:

lCLAlM:

1. A hopper tapering in the direction of its height to an inverted apex at the bottom of the hopper, adjacent which apex in a sidewall of the hopper is an aperture closable by a valve element mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis downwardly into and upwardly out of its position in which it closes the aperture, the valve element having a surface facing internally of the hopper which surface is part cylindrical in shape and is centered about the horizontal axis, the horizontal axis lying outside the hopper, and the interior surface of said sidewall of the hopper extending upwardly from the aperture substantially tangentially of the part-cylindrical surface in smooth continuation of that parbcylindrical surface, whereby the valley angle of material in the hopper is not increased as the valve element moves in the aperture closing direction 2. A hopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hopper includes a further sidewall opposed to said sidewall, the interior surface of said further sidewall providing a seat against which said part-cylindrical surface seals in the position of the element in which it closes the aperture,

3. A hopper as claimed in claim 2, wherein the interior surface of said further sidewall meets the part-cylindrical surface of the element when in its position in which it closes the aperture, substantially tangentially but in a reverse manner to that in which the interior surface of the first-mentioned sidewall meets the part-cylindrical surface. 

